l-

PAYSON SHEETS AND JAGO COOPER

Burton, Ian, Robert Kates, and Gilbert'White 1978 Tlte Enoironrnent as Hazard. oxford universiry Press, New York. Crate, Susa¡ 2008 Gone the Bull of Winter? Grappling with úre Culrural Implications of ONE and Andrropologyt Role(s) in Global Climate Change. Current Antltro' pology 49:569-595. Hazards, Impacts, and Resilience among Grattan,John, and Robin Torrence, eds. ZOOT Liuing under the Shadou: Cultural Impacts of l/olcanic Eruptions. Left Hunter-Gatherers of the Coast Press,'Walnut Creek, CA. Mauch, Christo{, and Cristia¡ Pfister, eds. Ben Fitzbuþ zooe a Gt'bat Enaï y::î::3-;;ii'::ig,::'i::i,' :i;X,1ï;:u'ard Rose, Villi¿m,Julian Bommer, Dina Lopez' Michael Carr' andJon Major ZOO4 Natur¿l Hazards in El Salaalor. Special Paper 375. Geological Sociery of America, Boulder, CO. Sheets, Payson 1980 Arcbaeohgical Studks of Disaster: Their Range and Value. Paper 38' lnsti tute of Behavioral Science, Universiry of Colorado, Boulder' 2008 Armageddon to the Ga¡den of Eden: Explosive Volca¡ric Eruptions arrd Societal Resilience in Ancient Middle America. ln El Nino, Catdstropb' ism, and Culnre Change in Anciznt America, ed. Daniel Sandweiss a¡rd Press, Cambridge' Jeffrey Qilter. Dumbarton Oaks, Ha¡vard Universiry - MA,pp.l68-186. ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO CATASTROPH IC van Buren, Mary EVENTS IN THE HUNTER-GATHERER CONTEXT 2001 The Archaeology of El Nino Events and Other'Natural" Dísasters.Jour- nal ofArchaeolnghal Metbod and. Tlteory 8(2): 129-149 ' This chaprer explores hunter-gatherer vulnerabiliry in dre context ofrelative 'White, Gilbert isolarion and a highly dynamic natural environment. The seming is the Kuril 1945 Human Adjustrnent to Flood. universiry of chicago Press, chicago. Isla¡ds ofthe Northwest Pacific, and the data set is a 4,000-year record ofhuman semlement and environmental history generated by the Kuril Biocomplexiry Project, alarge, interdisciplinar¡ and international research effort fielded Êom 2006 to 2008. The presupposition entering this project was rhat this relatively isolated, volcanic, eart'hquake- and tsunami-prone subarctic region should be among the more difficult habitats for hunter-gatherer populations to occuPy consisrendy and, as a result, that the archaeological record should refect peri- odic abandonments, at least in the most isolated (and smallest) central islands. The results of this study speak less ro rhis heuristic presupposition than to the idea of resilience in the face of ecological impoverishment, catastrophic events' and climare changes. The history we are uncovering highligha rhe importance oflinked social, economic, and demographic processes in condirioningvulner- abiliry and shapingpeople's resilience in the environment. Hazards a¡rd disasters ere rhe focus of increasing inrerest in natural and social science, scimulated by growing media attention to disasters a¡ou¡d the world. Calls for improved predicdon of catastrophic events have generated

19 18 -lF

HAZARDS, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER-GATHERERS BEN FITZHUGH

enhaaced suppoft for rerrospective srudies ofhistorical pattern and periodiciry Sh umsh u in earthquakes, munamis, volcanic eruPdons, floods, drought, climate change, ,-a-"tn.rr;f and other natural hazards. Social science has en¡ered this a¡ena to better under- stand human responses to haza¡dous events and environmental change, most Sea of recently callingfor more integrated research into rhe socio-natural dynamics of Seqof - okhotsk ' disasters (Blafüe et al..1994: Oliver-Smith 1996: Oliver-Smith and Hoffman Okhotsk Jonetotan D Torrence and Graman 20OZ). This latest turn recog- 2002; Sidle etal.2004: a) nizes that disasters are complex outcomes of linked social and environmental Sh¡ashkotan processes and that these histories ofren condition the severity of impaem on ."o"i'/ r.)1*: / events. Pociñc humans in the aftermath ofextreme Oceqn ¡ dynamics of disasters have 'LJshishir Efforts ro undersrand the socio-environmenral a lslands tended to focus on agricultural and industrial sociedes (but see Saltonstall and Simush¡r / Cawer}}}Z; Sheets 1999). From a compararive archaeological study of socio- / ., ch¡rpo¡ ecological responses to explosive volca¡ric eruprions in Meso¿merica, Payson Sheets (1999) suggests r-har the impacts of such catasuophic events will scale with the degee of organizational complexiry and investment in "built envi- PacifrcOcean ronmenr." He argues that small-scale egalitarian sociedes, et least in Central America, had the most organizational resilience. If Sheets is correct in this con- clusion, we should expect ro see similar degrees of resilience in other contexts in which small-scale socieries were exposed to catastrophic events. The Kuril ,ã^^'^r"'7 Islands ofFer another case for investigating the resilience ofsuch sociedes.

t.t. Tbe Ifuril Isknds. Illustration by Ben Finbuþ, based on cartograpbic projection b1 Adam Freeburg THE KURIL ISLANDS The Ku¡il Islands provide a semi-conrrolled seming for investigating the his- taxa limited in their abilicy to disperse across torical impacts of volca¡ism, tsr:namis, and climate change on maritime of land-based plant and animal marine currents. As a result, the islands from hunter-gatherers over the past 4,000 years. As-a group of ecologically simple wide cha¡rnels with fast have relatively low terrestrial biodiversiry and are dom- and geographically small volcanic isla¡rds scretched across 1,100 km of stormy' northeast to Onekota¡ inated by tundra meadow and alpine ecosystems and a few terresrial mammals subarctic ocean, these islands would seem to epitomize an extremelyvulnerable at colonizing new la¡rds, such as fox and vole. Birds, environment for human setdement. The relative isolation of the central Kurils uncharacteristically good are abundant and diverse in the absence ofmost predators, and the may explain why drey were Ieft unoccupied-until roughly 4,000 years ago, a by contrast, Kurils support dozens of species of resident seabirds and migratorywaterfowl barrier radrer than a bridge between theJapanese archipelago and Kamchatka (Hacker mammals are also well represented today aror¡nd the (figure 1.1). 1951). Marine many of the Kuril Isla¡ds. Sea lions, fu¡ seals, In biogeographical terms, the Kuril Islands* are "stepping stone islands" shores and nea¡-shore waters of seals are the most common species today, especially in the cenral between and the Kamchatka Peninsula-serving as both potential and harbor in large numbers and raise pups in t-he summer. conduit and filter for the movement of plants, animals, and people berween islands, where they haul out are abunda¡t in some areas-especially around the northern and these larger landmasses. The islands serve largely as a fi.lter to the expansion Sea otters southern islands-while absent in others. Their disribudon seems to reflect the ecological differences in shellfish and fish producdviry and diversiry, which * 'Greatcr Kuril" island chain linking Hokkaido In this chapter'Kurils? refers to rhe are also highest in the northern and soudrern ends of the chain compared to ro Kamchatka. A shorter string of islands, known as the 'Lesser Ku¡ils," stretches rhe center. The resuldngecologicalpicture is one ofhigher taxonomic diversiry approximately 100 km northeast Êom Hokkaido's Nemura Peninsula. These islands in both terrestrial and marine resources in the southernmost and northernmost are nor discussed in this chapter.

21 20 HAZARDS, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER.GATHERERS BEN FITZHUGH

to 2500'BC). The next oldest radiocarbon dates, also from southern islands, begin to appear around 2500 BC a¡rd correlate with apparent stabilization of the local climate and vegetation (Anderson et aI. 2009). Between 1900 and 1400 BC we start to see evidence for settlement on many ofthe central and northern islands. This expansion conceivably relates to the spread of a more efFecdve seafaring cechnology into theJapanese archipel- ago that would have facilitated greater movement into the Kurils, as it appar- endy did in the previous millennium in Isla¡d Southeast Asia (Oppenheimer and Richards 2001). ln this very earþ phase of Kuril occupation, it is possible that people from southern Kamchatka might have colonized the northern- most islands of and . In general, however, all diagnostic culrural traia (predominandy decorated pottery) in this time and during the drawn from the United States, , and Japan. The tlree summers from rest ofhistory suggest southern origins, either starting in or passing through Hokkaido to get to dre Kurils. Our radiocarbon database indicates an abrupt jump in Kuril occupation beginning around 500 BC. This surge represents the leading edge of almost 1,500 years ofmore orless continuous settlement duringthe Epi-Jomonperiod, with substandal pit-house villages established on many of the Kuril Islands. The Epi-Jomon were a maritime-oriented hunting and tshingpeople who lived in the Kurils in small pit houses roughly 3-5 m in diameter and left behind cord-marked pottery, a variety of stone tools, and-in rare, well-preserved deposic-disdncdve bone and wood artifacts, including barbed and toggling harpoon heads. The Epi-Jomon represent the continuity ofJomon hunting- and-gathering lifeways in Hokkaido and the Kurils at a time when Yayoi rice farmers had assimilated and displacedJomon lifestyles in more southerþJapan peat samples from almost every island. Project teams are working from these (Habu 2004; Hudso n 1999 Imamura 1996). ã"r" .o cånclusions and combining forces to bemer understand the integrated ; of this emerging syn- . ln the mid-first millennium AD a new culture, known as the Okhotsk, Lare Holocene history of r¡e Kurils. It is in the _context swept the southern shores of the Okhotsk Sea from origins in the Lower Amur' thesis r.hat we ,..k to á."* preliminary conclusions about the hazards affecting Island, or both (Amano 1979; Ono 2008). The Okhorck culture colo- human setdement andlifesryle in ¡åe Ku¡ils. nized the Kurils sometime around AD 800, more or less replacing a waning Epi-Jomon population. From about AD 800 to 1300 the Okhotsk dominated KURII- ISLAND ARCHAEOLOGICAL HISTORY the Kurils from south to norch. They used distincdve thick-walled Pottery' lived in larger oval to pentagonal houses ranging from 5 to 15 m in diameter, The oldest dated archaeological site in the Kurils is located in cenual Irurup and pursued a range of game, from fish and shellfish to birds and sea mam- Island and dared ro 8,000 years ago (ca. 6000 BC). (Vasilevsþ and ^bour mals.* During this interval, southern and central Hokkaido supported a culture Shubina 2006; Yanshina and Kuzmin 2oI};zaitseveet. al 1993). It was occu- known as Satsumon, derived from the assimilation of Hokkaido Epi-Jomon pied by a urface and immigrants from northern Honshu bearing a mixed hundng-gathering finds ofE in the southern ' 6000

Epi-Jomon populations likely ate a similar range of foods in the Kurils' but faunal remains datingprior to the Okhotsk period were hard to come by in the highly acidic * Dates are given in calibrated calendar years BC or AD unless otherwise noted. volcanic soils of the Kurils. Urrcalibrated radiocarbon ages (raw dates) are designated as'rcybp'"

22 7-

HAZARDS, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER-GATHEl BEN FITZHUGH the and competition a¡rd commercial fisheries. Three towns are currently locaæd in millet farming subsistence economy (Crawford L992'7008;Crawford and islands on Kunashiç Irurup, and Pa¡amushir. Remote military bases and out- Takamþ 1990). Kurils posts srrung throughout tåe Kurils, many initially established by theJapanese archaeological evidence of human semlement in the Corioosl¡ combatants in W'orld'W'ar II, were occupied by Soviet/Russian military years or t-o'Titgap in Person- disappears AD 1t00-1400, at least for 200 "rå*d culural radi- nel until the late 1990s. The end ofthe Cold \['ar and the economic collapse of .uid..r.. for Kuril occuparion corresponds to the emergence of ln Hokkaido the Russian Federation led to the abandonment of most such outposts. Today, tions recognir.d p.".trso., of Ainu ethnic culrure' ". "tãdtrn of pit- only three of four people live regularly between Island a¡d .h. of the Ainu is characcerized by complete abandonmcnt "*.rgã.r.e imported (personal observation 200 6 -2008) - d.,i.llir,gs and pottery in favor of abovegrouad suuctures and hoor" ln summary, archaeological evidence shows that the Ku¡ils were more or iron and l".qo1r.ont"ir'.rs. In the Kurils îîri;r*ïÏåäi:*Ï:;::: less continuously and substantially occupied from approximately 3,000 years ago until about 800 yeers ego. They were used by what appears to have been 'Naiji poæery with incernal lug handles a much more limited population since that time. It is likely that the human t-he south. the northern and southern ends ofthe islands start of the eigh- population was concentrated in According co the ethno-historic re :ords beginning at the rhe for the past 800 years, as it is currendy. Flence the central islands once again t..rrt}, ...rru.f, the Kuril Ainu ("Kuriles' or "Koushi") lived throughout north- represent a geographical gap in human setdement, as they appear to have done nortlern, ..n.."1, and southern Kuril Islands' They spoke distincdy from those spoken prior to 1900 BC. ern and southern dialects of the Ainu language' different "-kotan' village, in Hokkaido and sourüern Sakhalin. The Ainu suffix means Kharimkoan, ' and f Onekoan, KEY HAZARDS, PAST IMPACTS, AND HUMAN RESPONSES villages. Srcpan K¡asheninnikov (I97 Z) rePorts Geologically, the Kurils are the product of the tecconic collision of oceanic hu.J fro* to Shumshu and that the to hunt birds and and condnental plates at the Kuril-K¿mchatka subduction zone. This ongoing Simushir occuPants traveled seasonally to Chirpoi Island process causes relatively frequent volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsuna- with southern Kuril Ainu comin rade mis that make life challenging for island residents. In addition, the islands are Samarin and Olga Shubina (200 þr beset by fog much of the year, subject to dramatic storms, arrd variably packed or fortifications, t-hey attribute to Ainu with winter sea ice. Changes in climate have implications for the frequency of suggest that Ainu I therefore strongly ecosystem. with rela- evidence sug- storms and the producdvity of the marine Combined contact i" th. .'"tþ.ighteenth century, while the archaeological tive isolation, these conditions make the Kurils hazardous for human occuPa- there more than a çentury earlier''Whatever the tion, especially when population density was low and social networks harder we can clearly say that the Ainu did not maintain ro maintain berween isolated seftlements (Fitzhugh, Phillips, and Gjesfeld the Kurils (especially the cenual Kurils) that the 2011). AII of these factors make the Kurils (especially the remote and small earlierEpi-Jomona¡dOkhomksetdersdid.Somethingchanøedfundamen- very places for anyone to live, at this dme' central ones) seem as .ho"Sh they would be risþ tally in.i-r. ,r"*" nmentai relationship especially depending on relatively unproducdve ecosystems. andJapanese states' Kuril hunter-gatlerers A-fter contact Russia¡r resec Ainu populations ning residents were f-orcibly in rhe Lesser Ku¡ils in 1883. At the end of'w'orldw'a¡ II ¿.¿ on siiLoran Island Hazard r: Volcanic Eruptions where conquering Sovierc sent the few survivingKuril Ainu to Hokkaido' the ecdve volcanoes that have erupted (Kaoru Têzuka' personal commu- There are currently thirty-rwo known it is behåved tL. hrt member died in 1960 at least once in the past 300 years, twenty of them since the end ofW'orld'War nication20o6).Therapidiryofthisdepopulationinabsenceofevidenceof II.'SØhile most eruptions are small and disrupt only a limited part of an island, fairþ low population levels prior to contact' s some do produce extensive landslides and pyroclastic flows (slurries of super- tieth-century occuPation increasingly came to heated rocks, mud, a¡d other debris) that affect the nearby landscape and ecol- se outPosts' These outposc were initially estab- i but ca¡ be accompanied fur seal pelts, but ogy. Volcanic ash deposits have less dramatic impacts lished ro rake advantage of the lucrative hunt for sea omer and of geopolitical military by hot and lethal gases that affect organisms living close to an erupcingvolcano. in t'he twentierh..rr.,íy they served the dual purposes

25 24 HAZARDS, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER-GATHERERS BEN FITZHUGH dead voles and foxes observed in this otherwise unaffected southern part of Éhe island ip August 2009 provide indirect evidence of lethal toxic gas emis- sions accompanying the eruption. At the same time, sea mammals and seabirds remained or retu¡ned to the island less tha¡ a mont-h following the eruption (Nadezhda Razzhegaeva, personal communication 2009). The 2009 eruption was one of the rwo most explosive erupdons in a series of thirteen for since 1923. For much of the past century, the now unoccupied Island supported an active military base. While the documented eruptions of Sarychev were oriented away from human settle- mencs and thus did not result in human fatalities, the geological evidence of the southeastern portion ofthe island suggests different eruption patterns in the past.,A. minimum ofeleven pyroclastic flows and thick tephra deposits have buried that landscape since people started living on the isla¡d 2,500 years ago (Fiøhr¡gh et a1,2002: Ishizuka 2001). In the more distant past, the entire low- elevation promontory that supported known huma¡ occupation, which makes up the southeasrern rhird of the island, was created by one or more massive cone collapses and landslides. Thus the history of this volcanic island supports tle lltter' t.2. Eruption of Sarycbeu onJane 12, 2009' as pbotograp.bed b the conclusion that the a¡ea, direction, and degree ofimpact ofanygiven erup- ootiool ipore Stotion. Image coartesy ofEartb Sciences and lrnage Anaþsis tion are variable and unpredictable. ["t_rrrrl, NASAJohnson'space cento (ISS020-E-g048; bttp'//eoliu.nasa.goø). Matuat volcanic history is mirrored on that of other islands throughout the chain. Past fows and landslides have remodeled sections of several islands. the ground for Landslides often formed the best low-elevation foundation for subsequent Ash can then ercend great distances, sometimes visibly layering can be traced for human occupations, demonstrated by archaeological seclements placed on fea- t.rrs ofkilorrr..... from the eruption' Some ash deposits "*í wind direc- mres of former landslides on the smaller islands of , Kha¡imkotan, more rhan 1,000 km úEough dre Kuril chain as a result of favorable with toxic gases, a¡d Ekarma. Kha¡imkotan, for example, has rwo low-elevation landforms, one don and sufficient volume áf ejected matter. Ash ca¡r be mixed amounts.'\ù?'ith suf- on each side, that were created by landslides in the past 2,000 years. Living on and the sediment itself ca¡r b.i*g.roo, to inhale in large the the flanks of an active volcano is always inherendy hazardous, and most of the ficient deposition, volcanic *ill s nother o\t plant growth and delay "sh central Kurils are litde more t.han volcanic cones with narrow coastal benches ,.r*r, of-*g.radon cover until úre ash itserhàs weathered into a viable soil suitable for human occupation. (Griggs 1918). 'ä.particularlyimpressive*otï:"'î:rl;ir,"i;',1.f Ash deposits are less hazardous than lava flows a¡d landslides, but they :ä;,tiî- can extend over much greeter areas and distances. Ash layers are ubiquitous cause of the disruption it caused in throughout the Kurils and form one of the primary sources of sedimentary st Asia. The eruption, documented by accumulation. Some of the more widespread tephras are sourced to caldera- 1.2), caused extensive pyroclastic flows forming eruptions in Kamchatka a¡rd Hokkaido. Two caldera erupdons occu¡red in the Kurils in the Late Holocene: the eruptions of on andthepartialcollapseoftheislandtnorthwestface,leadingtosignificant Iturup Island about 400 BC and the eruption of , ca. 200 BC. ,.*od.lirrg of .o"r.d geometry. Because the ash plume went high into the of the Regarding the past impacts and responses to volcanic erupcions of the ash had ll¡iited impact on the ground"W'inds ca¡ried some "*orpfr.ri, west across the Middle to Late Holocene, based on dated and chemically correlated tephra srrlfirråus ash cloud."r. of the Pacific and some ".rorr-*rrch Island mofe than 600 km deposits sampled during che KBP, Mitsuhiro Nakagawa and colleagues (2009) Sea of okhotsk, where it dusted parrs of sakhalin reporr that eruption frequency and intensity in the Kurils was highly vari- southern flank ofsarychev Volca¡o and the adjacent able during the Holocene. The central Kurils appear to have consistendy pro- the location ofa prehistoric archaeological site and an duced the greatest frequencies of eruptions in all dme periods (they contain were minimally affected. A thin layer ofash a¡rd several

27 26 -7--

HAZARDS, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER-GATHERERS B€N FITZHUGH

t3. Composite pboto colkge in which the outèr/lowerfames show the caldera rim of Ushishir Vohano with Rassbua Island in the distance. 1he central irnage shotas tbe 2}-cn-thick, 2,000-year-old (Jshishir øolcanic ash layerþund in excauation on Rassbua Island sandui¡hed between Epi-Jomon arcbaeological strata (Rasshua 1, Test Pit 2). Usbishir photos by Volodirnir Golubtsoa; inset pboto fu Ben Finhugh.

site at the time the eruption occurred. Culrural deposits are also superimposed above this thick tephra layer. Radiocarbon ages from above and below bracket the tephra berween 1990 ! 30 rcybp (05-67131) and2430 + 25 rcybp (OS- 67086). Currendy, we cannot say when the Ushishir tephra fell within this interval. Ifat the beginning, it could have been the event thac forced an aban- donmenr of the sire. Addirional radiocarbon dates may help reduce this inter- val. Unforrunarely, the lack ofprecision of radiocarbon datingwill continue to put limits on the certainty with which we can link archaeological and geologi- cal events based on these kinds ofdata. Only rarely are archaeologists fortunate enough to find direct and unequivocal evidence ofvolca¡ic impacm in the form of evidence of catastrophic mortality (e.g., Cooley 2003) or structural damage from ash deposition preserved in ash molds (Shimoyama 2002). 'What we can conclude from the Kuril evidence so far is that the small-, medium-, and large-scale eruptions berween 3,000 and 1,000 years ago deterred human occupation in the Kurils litde, if at all. The islands may have been abandoned for intervals following major eruptions and ash deposition,

29 28 -F

;, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER.CATHERERS BEN FITZHUGH

at 100 m) above sea level atop terraces fronted by steep banks. \ù?'hile archaeo- logical siteq located closer to shore on beaches or low platforms near good land- ings could have been selecdvely lost to erosion, it seems likeþ that the high elevation ofexisting archaeological sites throughout the Kurils reflects e sûet- egy for mitigating the hazards of tsunamis. For mariners making a living from the sea, tsunamis also posed eh¿z¿rd to boaters worhng in shallow *"r., o. at the shore at the time of a csunami strike. As with volcanic evenß, people undoubtedly perished from tsunamis and, unless their wooden dugout vessels were carried to the tops of terraces, they sometimes lost their boaa. Ecological damage as a result of munamis tolerated by mari- remains unquantified, but tsunamis probably have signi6cant if not long- shape patterns of human seElemenr. volcanic hazards were lasting impaccs on the ecological productivity of littoral zones. On dre other dme hunter-gatherers throughout occuPation history' hand, tsunami disturbance on Pacific coasts combined with more protected "buffer" zones on Okhotsk Sea sides contributes resilience to the system et úre scale of islands and larger regions. As long as populations did not ger roo Hazard z: Earthquakes and Tsunamis large, these occasional impacts would have only required modest relocation, not isla¡d abandonment. while our research has not provided arry evidence of direct tsunami impacts on human settlements, thepersistence ofwhat appear to be substantial populations throughout the central islands during the Late Holocene in spite ofevidence of major tsunamis on the order of once every 500-1,000 yeers sug- gests that tsunami even$ themselves caused lide, if any, change in the cou¡se of human seftlement history or culture. The one adapdve response evident in our data is placement of seclements on high terraces and in more protected locations.

Hazard 3: Weather and Climate Change Somewhat less catastrophic, but potentially no less hazardous, ere unpre- dictable changes in weather and climate that could affect the ability ro navigate the islands and potentially alter the producdviry of the marine environment. W'eather is used here to indicate daily to annual patterns of atmospheric con- ddal a¡d intertidal ecosystems. occurred ditions, especially as they interact with the sea surface and marine currents to The KBP ,.r."r.h ir", shown that tsunamis of this magnitude produce changing fog, surf, and wave patterns, which are inherendy hazardous in chis oceanic landscape. The Kurils are statistically che foggiest place on ea¡th, and it is rarelypossible to see the horizon a¡rd often, in facr, lirde more than the boat in which one is sitting. Modern navigators, including KBP scientisc, rely almost entirely on GPS and navigational charts to find their way through the Kurils. Earlier mariners had ¡o learn the landscape more or less by feel and read clues in the waves and currents, birds, and marine organisms to move berween and along isla¡ds. Fog is most prevalent in summer months when storms are (and extreme case less frequent and less severe. located on elevated landforms, between 20 a¡ð.40 m in one

3'l 3o - 5, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER-GATHERERS BEN FITZHUGH

inten- productivity in the south could have drawn people farrher north ro rhe mod- Large storms pass rhrough the Kurils year-round but with particular 'Winter and bring esdyproductive cenral a¡d northern isla¡ds. siry b.ri.en Sepåmber *J M"y. srorms are more violent and the southern A combination of climate proxies from Hokkaido ( Tsukada I 9 8 8 ; Yamada h.r".doos sea ià and orher debris into rhe Sea of Okhotsk et al. 2010), dre mainland surounding the Sea of Okhomk (Korodcy et al. (and sometimes northern) Kurils. Boat landings in storms are ^Particularly 2000), and marine cores in the Sea of Okhotsk (Kawahata et al. 2003) leads and would have been exceedingly challenging on meny of the smaller i.riloo, wind us to believe that climate changes occurred on rhe order of every 600-1,200 il*¿r, *i.tt tittle ôr no protecdon from wind and swells' Storm waves and benches or years over the past 2,500 years. Records are nor perfecdy correlated berween can push large logs high up the beach and onto low coastal ".rdì.. sources but generally show reversals of climare from warm to cold (ca.400 BC) ,..ri."r, ...":ri.rgi"""rds for Ùea.hed boars and arry residences placed too close create danger- to warm (berween AD 200 and 800) and then ro cold (AD 1200), shifting to sealevel. Undlersra¡rdinghowweather and currents interact to Kurils for to warm again in roughly AD 1800. These conditions should have uanslated ous conditions woutd havã been a prerequisite to setding the central into changes in the marine producrivity of rhe Kurils, but rhese factors did nor eny past colonists. ' ^Ch".rg., generete consisteht responses in human setdemenr hisrory. in rhe parterns, frequency, and intensiry of weather over periods atthese According to the productiviry expectations discussed earlier and assuming ,arrging frãm dec"des to millennia constitute climate change' Changes that food was the limiting facror in human popularion densities following col- ,."1î, ircr.d the dynamics of srorminess, the hazardousness of üavel, and pro- onization, during colder climate phases we would expect rhe southern Kurils ductiviry of the marine ecosystem in ways that should be refected in human affect to have been most densely populated during rhe inrervals between 400 BC ro and possibly in changes in t*re-nature of setdement' as they "d"p.æån, AD 200-800 and berween AD 1200 and 1800, while the cenual and nonh- tlre sost"irrabitity of th. food supply a¡d rhe maintenance of social nerworks low- ern islands should have seen population expansion in rhe warmer phases. In .tooogh the islÁds (discussed later). In cold climates, the North Pacific to accelerate fact, the first majorpopularion explosion throughout the archipelago occurred pr.rr,r"r. system t.rrd, to intensify' causing strong northlrlYwinds during the major cold phase of 400 BC to ,A.D 200 and condnued rhrough ',t. Oy"rhio Current that brings nutrient-enriched cold Arctic waters south the following warm phase. On the other hand, the AD 1200- 1800 cold phase fro* ú-r. Bering Sea to the Kurils (Qiu 2001)' counterclockwise circulation of the corresponds to what appears to be a near abandonment of the central Kurils This samelechanism intensifies the '\üØhether of the Amur as discussed earlier, in contrasr to expectations. we expecr popula- Sea of Okhotsk, bringing iron-enriched waters from the mouth climate periods tion expansion into the central and norrhern Kurils to be driven by crowding River to easrern Hokk"iio and rhe southern Kurils. In warmer a more strati- in the south (because ofhigh productivity rhere) or by the relarive benefits the Oyashio Current, including the Okhotsk gyre, weakens' and for of marginally better foraging to the north during wermer periods, the hisrori- fied siface layer limits the degiee of nuuient enrichment available photo- sys- cal patterns a¡e inconsisteht wirh expectations. Clearþ climate change is an synthesis and primary production (ibid')' The North Pacific low-pressure the subarctic insufficient-though probably contribudng-causal variable in the changes rem is srongest in winter months when light iS least available in mix- observed (cf. Hudson 1999). *rt.rs of th. Kurils and the Sea of Okhotsk. As a result, increased winter ing actually tends to reduce primary producdviry by limiting th-e peneuation oå"UUl. light into rh. *ãt", column, despite availability of nurients. ln where Hazard 4: Socioeconomic Isolation and lntegration the sourh, otrthç eesr coesr of Hokkaido a¡d the southernmost Kurils, Current ln the conrext of rhe hazards already oudined, rhe more isolared Kuril winter light is stronger, primary productivity correlates with Oyashio to be fully Islands produce another kind of hazard for human seclers-rhar of social iso- ,,r.rrg.hlChiba er i. ZôOS). Vittil. .tr. mechanisms are sdll 'nder- lation and greater difficuldes in maintainingvibrant nerworks for crirical infor- ,,ooi1..g., Schneider and Miller 2001), primary productivity overall should while in mation flow, marriage alliances, and supporr in times when local condirions be enhanced in the southernmosr Kurils/Hokkaido in cold periods, observed to deteriorated in any parr of the archipelago (Fiøhugh, Phillips, and Gjesfeld the central and northern Kurils primarily, productivity is actually to the region 20ll). Social nerworks are easier ro maintain when population densities are increase somewhar in warmer periods when spring light retwns we can higher and setdements are closer rogether. ln the central Kurils, maintaining (chiba et aI. 2008; Heileman and Belkin 2008). Thus, in a general way mari- networks between small and distant islands required more costly expedirions, à*p"...h", cold climares would have enhanced the biomass available for could have which were all the more essentiel given rhe hazards of isolation. These connec- tiåe hunrer-garherers in the southern Ku¡ils, while warmer climates declines in tions would have linked the Kurils economically and socially with the more made these iJands less attractive. On rhe other hand, warm climate

33 32 V-

5, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER-GATHERERS BEN FITZHUGH

pressures ofruúrless traders to the south. In the southern Kurils and Hokkaido, pressure put on Ainu for commodity production evenrually resulted in a num- ber of revohs-mosr famously one on Ku¡ashir in 1789 thar was put down by Japanese military force, marhng a turning point in direct Japanese interest in the Kuril Islands (W'alker 2001). It appears that the major impact to successful hunter-gatherer seftlemenr in the Kurils is as much or more social as it is environmental. During Okhorsk setdement, the Kurils were at least marginally connecred ro an expanding mer- cantile system of exchange in marine producrs with mainland East Asian poli- ties. The warmer a¡d wetter climare may have encouraged expanding human populations and the exploitation of a producdve niche for marine mammal hunting. Okhotskpeople mayhave colonized the Kurils more as enrrepreneurs capitalizing on a lucrative natural resource zone rha¡ as a "naturally" expanding population simply looking for new subsistence opportunities. \Øhether rhey pushed Epi-Jomon þeoples out or assimilated them is yer unclear. A colder climate-perhaps with lower productivity in rhe more remore and least ecologically diverse cenral islands-in combinarion with a growing political economy to the south, drawing Kuril populations into expanding eco- nomic ties with power centers in Hokkaido and mainlandJapan, seems ro have been motivated to had the effect of precipitating the relative abandonment of most of rhe Kurils. the desire to Pro- ln this context \Me cen expect that the cenual and northern Kuril Ainu took . At the same time, advantage of the geographic characteristics of the Kurils ro creare isolarion from undesi¡able networks to the south. Following Russian incursion inro rhe northern isla¡ds, this process was exercised in reverse when a group of north- ern Ainu relocated to che central island of Rasshua ro escape Russian taxarion demands (V. O. Shubin, personal communication 2008).

RESILI ENCE AN D VULNERABILITY These comparisons lead us to broader considerations of human vulnerabiliry and resilience in small-scale, mobile hunter-gatherer popularions compared archipelago (Valker 200 1). widr larger and more denselypacked, sedenrary, terrirorial, and infrastructu¡- So.iil .orr,..tedness with Hokkaido and Kamchatke aPPears to have had ally rooted populations such as those examined in rhe remainder of rhis vol- ume. Several conclusions can be drawn from the Kuril case study. First, it is becoming clear that natural hazards in the Kurils had rela- dvely litde impact on the viabiliry of occupancs, once they had developed the capaciry to secde and make a living in the islands ar all. This is consisrent wirh Sheetst (1999) argument that small-scale societies tend ro be mosr flexible in the face of environmental 'catasrophe." \7'hile this conclusion is consistent with general expectations for mobile popularions living in low popularion den- sities, it is somewhat surprising in an environment like the Kurils, which by all expectations should have held hunter-gatherer populations close to the edge

35 34 fF

5, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE BEN FITZHUGH AMONG HUNTER.GATHERERS

e of have ofsustainable serdemenr. The evidence does not currendy suPPoft notion not dre luxury of returning ro srares of such flexibility. The implicarion is rather d¡at vulnerability is inherendy a complex socio-ecological condition. Ironically, the near aba¡donment of the Ku¡il Islands a¡d ultimare exrincdon of Kuril Ainu populations in recent cenruries are producrs of the increasingþ interconnecred and global scale of socio-political and economic inreracrion. The Kurils are acrively contested in internarional disputes berween Russia and Japan, but on the ground they are a backwater of the civilized world, squeezed of their culrural, economic, and geopolitical vitality in times pasr by changes in the currents of global politics. Geologically and ecologically as acrive es ever, these islands sit largely abandoned, wairing for the next cycle ofhuman interesr and acdviry.

AchnowledgrnentlT}iis research v¡as supported by the Kuril Biocomplexiry ProjecL an internarional, interdisciplinary research program funded by the US National Science Foundarion (ARC-0508109; Ben Fitzhugh, PI). Additional support was provided by the Universiry of Vashington, Seatde, W'ashington, USA; the Hokkaido University Museum, Sapporo, Japan; rhe Historical Museum of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan; rhe Sakhalin Regional Museum, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia; and the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMGG : Yuzhno-sakhalinsk, IVS : Peropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, NEISRI: Magadan, TIG: Vladivostok). This chapter was improved with the thoughtfirl commenrs and edirorial assistance of Pat Anderson, Laada Bilaniuk, Cecelia Bitz, Andrew Dugmore, Erik Gjesfeld, Bre Maclnnes, and Colby Phillips. Of course, all errors are my responsibility alone.

REFERENCES Kurils' natural fur wealth through territorial acquisition' ,tmano, T. L979 Ohôtsuku bunka no tenkai to chi'ikisa [Development and Formation of coNcLusloN Okhotsk Culturc]. Hoppô Bunka Kenþû t2:75-92 (Japanese). Ames, K., a¡rd H.D.G. Maschner 1999 Peoples of the Nortbuest Coast: Their ,4rchaeology and Prehistory,.'[lnar'rres and Hudson, London.

A¡rderson, P. M., A. V. Lozhkin, P. S. Minyuk, A. Yu, A. Y. Pakhomov, and less T. V. Solomatkina as volcanic eruprions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and climate variability but 2009 Pollen Records and Sediment Ages Êom Lakes of Kr¡nashir and Icurup resilient uldm"r.ly to outside pressures from competinggroups and expanding Islands (Soudrern Kuril Islands). In Enaironrnent Deuelopznent of East demand for Kuril commodities. The result is a richer and more nuanced story Asi¿n Pleistocene-Holocene (Boandaries, Factors, Stages of Hunan Master- ing ), Proceedings of d-re I¡ternational Scientifi c Conference, September 14-18,2009, Vladivosrok, Russia. Dalnauka, Vl¿divostok, pp. 13-16. Arnold,J. E. 1996 Archaeology of Complex Hunter-Gathe rers. Joamal of Archaeolnghal though thar is clearly one conclusion. Sociedes ofthe nventy-first century do Method and TÍteory 3 (2):77-126.

36 37 BEN FITZHUGH HAZARDS, IMPACTS, AND RESILIENCE AMONG HUNTER-GATHERERS

Hacker, rüØ. Blefüe, P., T. Cannon, I. Davis, and B.'Wisner R. Dis.uters. Routledge, l95l rhe Kuril and Ryuþu Islands. pacf.t, 1994 At Risþ: Natural Hazards, Peoplei l/ulnerøbility, and ' ln Geography oftbe ed. otis'$7. Free- NewYork. marr.John Viley and Sons, N.*Vo.Ë, pp. S9S-SZ|.- Heileman, Chiba, S., M. N. Aita, K. Tâdokoro, T. Saino' H. Sugisaki, and K. Nakata S., and I. Belkin 2008 From Climate Regime Shift to Lower-Tiophic Level Phenology: synthesis 2008 oyashio current LME. In The uNEp L¿rge Marine Ecosystem Report: A of Recent Progress in Retrospective Studies of the Vestern North Pacific. Perspectiue on cbanging conditions in LMEs of the w'orrd's Regionar seas, Progress in O ceanograplry 77 : I 12- 126. ed. K. Sherman and G. Hempel. UNEP Regional Seas Report Ld Studies 182. United Nations Environment programme, Coole¡ A. Nairobi, Kenya, chaprer 24. 2003 PompeiL Duckworth, London. Hudson, M.J. Crawford, G.'W. 1999 Rains ofldentity: Ethnogenesis in theJapanese Islands.rJniversityofHawaii L992 The Tiansitions to Agriculture in Japan. ln Tiansitions to Agriculture in Press, Honolulu. Prehistory, ed. A. B. Gebauer and T. D. Price. Prehistory Press, Madison, 2004 The Perverse \ØI,pp. rr7-132. Realities ofchange: \Øorld system Incorporation and the okhotsk culture of Hokkaido . of4nthrop o logical 2008 The Jomon in Earþ Agriculture Discourse: Issues Arising from Matsui, Joumal Arch aeo rog\ 23 : 290-308. Kanehara and P eerson. IMorld Archøeology 4Q(4): 445-465. Imamura, K. Crawford, G. !(/'., and H. Takamiya 1996 Prehisøric lggo The origins and lmplications of Late Prehistoric Plant Husbandry in Japan: Neu Perspectit)es on Insular East Asia. rlniversiry col- lege London Press, ci e n c 8 8 I London. Northern Japa n. Jo urnal of Arc b aeo logir al S e 64: 9-9 l' Ishizuka, Y. Dumond, D. E. 2001 volcanic Acriviry and Recent 2OO4 Volcanism and History on the Northern Alaska PeninstLla ..4rctic Anthro' Têphras in the Kuril Isla¡ds: Field Result during projecr polog 4r(2): lt2-125. the lnternarional Ku¡il Island (IKIp) 2000. Report on 6le with the Ben Fitzhugh Projecr (pI), university of rØashingtãn, seattle. Dumond, D. E., and R. Knecht Available at http://www.anthro.washington.edu/A.rchy /IKIp / Geology An Early Blade Site in the / 2OOl volcanismindex.htm. Zone of Alaska, ed. D. E. Kawahata, H., H. Oshima, C. Shimada, and Museum of Natural Histor T. Oba 2003 Têrrestrial-oceanic Environmenral change in the Sourhern okhotsk Sea Fitzhugh, B. during the Holocene.pgaternary Intemational ZOO4 Russian Far East: The Kuril l0B: 67-76. Korod

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Schneider, N., and 4..J. Miller Marquardt, ìí. H. 2001 Predicting 'lül'e stern North Pacific Ocean Climate. of Clirnate l4t fSiS politics and Production emong the Calusa of South Florida. ln Hunters , Journal and Gatherers 1: Historry, Euolution, and Social Cbange' ed' T' Ingold' 3997-4002. D. Riches, andJ. W'oodburn. Berg' London, pp' 16l-188' Sheets, P. 1999 The Effects ofExplosive Volcanism on Ancient Egalitarian, Ranked, and Nakagawa, ' Baba, and A' Kosugi 2009 Research of KBP 2007-08 Cruise by Stiatified Societies in Middle America. In Zhe ,4ngm Earth: Dis¿ster in ished report on file wich the author' Antbropological Perspectiue, ed. A. Oliver-Smith and S. Hoff¡nan. Rout- Iedge, New York, pp. 36-58. Oliver-Smith, A. 1996 Anthropological Research on Hazards and Disasters. Annual Reuizus of Shimoyama, S. Volcanic Disasters and Archaeological Sites in Southern Kyushu, AnthroP o logY 25 : 303 -328. 2002 Japan. ln Natural Disasters and Cubural Change, ed. R. Torrence andJ. Grattan. Oliver-Smith,4., and S. Hoffrnan, eds. Ameri- Routledge, New York, pp. 326-341. 2OO2 catasftopbe and cubure: Tbe Antbropology of Disast-en School of ca¡r Research Advanced seminar Series. School of American Research Sidle, R. C., D. Täylor, X. X. Lu, \ù7. N. Adger, D.J. Lowe, W. P. de Lange, Press, Santa Fe, NM. R. M. Newnham, andJ. R. Dodson Ono,H. 2004 I¡teractions of Natural H¿zarås and Society in Austral-Asia: Evidence in pgaternary 2008 Diferences in Enaironmental Adaptation between Northern and Eastem Past and Recent Record s. International I I 8- I 1 9: I 8 I -203. oþhoxþ cuhares and Their cultural Backgrounds. llpo6r'eMu 6uo¡'o- Torrence, R., andJ. Grattan røqecroli I'I Ky bTyPHoú eAarrra III4I'I qe oBeqecKr,rx norrya'aquü' Tortr I 2002 The Archaeology of Disasters: Past and Future Tiends. l¡ Natural Disas- Apxeoa onrr6, AAanrauøosnble crParernø APeBHet o nacer'enø-a- Cenep- ters and Cuharal Change, ed. R. Torrence andJ. Grattan. Routledge, New C E"p"."", cblPbe nPI4 ert'rlt o6pa6orrø' Canrr-llerep6ypr' Hayra' York, pp. 1-18. "ãü L86-I96 (English with Russian abstract)' Tsukada, M. Oppenheimer, S., and M. Richa¡ds 1988 Japan. In Vegetation History, ed. B. Huntley and T. \Øebb III. Dordrecht, Islanders. S¿- )'OOf Fast Tiains, Slow Boats, and the Ancestry of the Poþesian Bosron, pp. 459-517. ence Progress 84(3): 157-181. Vasilevsþ ,\., and O. Shubina Phillips, S. C., and R.J. SPeakman 2006 Neolithic of the Sakhalin and Southern Kurile Islands. InArchaeology of from the Kuril ZOõ9 lnitial Source Evaluation of Archaeological Obsidian tbe Rassi¿n Far East: Essay in Stone Age Prebistory, eà. S. M. Nelson, A. IslandsoftheRussianFarEastUsingPortableXFG'Joumalof¿rchaeo- Derevianko, Y. Kuzmin, and R. Bland. BAR Inre¡national Series 1540. logic al S cience 36(6) : 125 6 - 1263' Archaeopress, Oxford, England, pp. 15l-166. Barkalov, S. Gage, Pietsch, T. lü'., v. v. Bogatou K. Amaoka, Y. N. Zhuravlev, v. Y. W'alker, B. H.Takahashi,A.S.r-.t.¡'S.Y'storozhenko,N'Minakawa'D'J'Bennet'and 2001 Zhe Conquest of Aina Lanàs: Emlogy and Cultare in Japanese Expansion, T. R. Anderson I590- 1800. University of California Press, Berkeley. and Biogeography of the Islands of the Kuril ,{rchipelago. zoo3 Biodiversity Yamada, K., M. Kamite, M. Saito-Kato, M. Okuno, Y. Shinozuka, and Y. Yasuda 30(9): 1297 Journal ofBiogeograPb -l3lî' 2010 Late Holocene Monsoonal-Climate Change Inferred from Lakes Ni-no- Q"'B. Megata and San-no-Megata, Northeastern Japan. 9laternary Interna- Encyclopedia of ocean sciences, ed'. 2001 Kuroshio and oyashio currents. ln tional 220 (l : lzz- 132. 1413- -z) Steele, S' Thorpl' andK. Turekia¡' Academic Press'NewYork' pp' J. Yanshina, O. V., and Y. V. Kuzmin 1425. 2010 The Earliesc Evidence of Human Se mlement in the Ku¡ile Islands (Russian Saltonstall, P. G., a¡d G. A' Ca¡ver Far East): The Yankito Sice Cluster, Iturup Island...¡Iaumal of Island and Eard-rquakes, Subsidence, Prehistoric Site Attrition and the Archaeologi- 2OO2 Coastal Archaeo logy 5 (l), 17 9 - I84. cal Record, A view from the Setdement Point site, Kodiak Archipelago, Zaítseva, D. I., S. G. Popov, A. P. Krylo¡ Y. V. Knorozor and A. B. Spevakovskiy Alaska.|nNanrdlDisastersandCulturalChange,ed.R.Torrenceand Radiocarbon Chronology of Archaeological Sites of the Kurile Islands. 172-192' 1993 J. Grattan. Roudedge, London, pp' Radioc¿rbon 35: 507 -5 10. Samarin, I.,{., and O. A. Shubina Isles of 2OO7 FortiÊed Semlements of the chasi Type on Kunashir Island: Kurile the Russian Far Eest- Nortb Pacifu Prebistory I:235-236'

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BEN FITZHUGH

DISASTERS UNDERSTANDING HAZARDS' MITIGATING IMPACTS, AVOIDING

Statement for Pol¡cy Makers and the Disaster Management Community

avoirl them. Hazarðsexist everywhere, and in many cases it is impracdcal to ïwo suc- The question ,o ir, how can lessons from the past help us-see what "rk ...d.d and what did not? \Øhat worked in the Kurils was a deep historical Responses to Explosive Volcanic Eruptions by Small to events knowledge about the frequency and potential extremes ofhazardous Complex Societies in Ancient Mexico and Central America for ,o p.oplã could live in i-re least vulnerable places, maintain capacities when they occurred, and maintain resilient flexible response ro carasrrophes Payson Sbeets Kuril a.rd r.d,orrã.,'r infrastrucrulres. Extrapolating from the archaeological densities, situation to modern communiries, widr their higher population heavier infrasrructural requirements, and critical dependencies on nonlocal has resource distribudon ,r.ri^rorkr, we can conclude t]rat hazard planning to include capaciry building for decenralized response systems' Families' crea- households, a¡d local .o--Liri., need ro have the ability to respond dvely, witlr decision decentralization supported by higher governmental insritudons so responses can scale with capacity. This also requires systems for rapid and decentralized information sharing'

Soludons [to hazards and disasters] are not to be found primarily in new technologies or betrer use ofexisting ones. The dificulties . . . stem from social factors. Social problems can only be dealt with socially; technological improvements can only address technological problems. qUARANTELLI i991:27

Gilbert'Whit e (t945),acuirural geographe¡ pioneered rhe initial serious social science studies of narural hazards, disasters, recoveries, and mitigarion. The field of hazard-disaster studies has grown impressively since t'hen (Alexander 1997; Burron, Kares, and'W'hite 1978). David Alexander (tggS, tggZ) sw- veyed the field and found thiny differenr disciplines studying hazards and disasters, from the social sciences through the natural sciences and engineering. Because hazard-disaster research began in the social sciences, one mighr expecr, or hope, that it led the way to today arrd received the majority of research sup- port. Ironically, the natural sciences and engineering now overwhelmingly dominate the social sciences in funding for research in rhe domain of narural haza¡ds and disasrers and in applied dimensions. In virrually all cases within the natural sciences and engineering and even including the social sciences, rhe focus of research is the immediacy of úre hazard, the disasrer, recovery and mitigation. Rarely have long-term srudies covering decades or cenruries been conducted, and even less frequently have scholars looked into what sectors of

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